I stumbled on the blind bags - and Grandma - on a trip to Tucson last month. The blind bagged figures are unique in that they require assembly and you can scramble parts between them to customize something. I rarely even think to take advantage of this, but there are real advantages if you get stuck with duplicate figures - or just want to make something else. If you check the pictures below, you can see that by leaving off the overcoat and swapping the hair color, you can basically cobble together the girl your friend from college was dating.
Given the features - and lack thereof - most Playmobil figures' ages are merely projections you put on their face. The white hair, glasses, and costume make her "old." Throw on some other wig and she's suddenly young, or dressing ironically, or living in Brooklyn ca. 2016. The button-up pink shirt can look like a sweater vest if you elect to leave off the overcoat, which actually does do a convincing job of making the figure look like she stepped out of an old movie. The pea-soup green looks sharp, and compliments the purple skirt nicely. Also, black shoes go with everything.
Articulation is exactly the same as a normal 3-inch figure, with the only real caveat being that while she can sit her coat prevents her from sitting in a chair. So to be more accurate, she can't actually sit. The first thing I grabbed when I found this figure was a chair, so she could hopefully sit in it with a cat. Well, that ain't happening. Instead she can be a librarian - she's got the hair and glasses - or could be converted to a number of cool other figures if you're sitting on a pile of pieces. I'm not.
When you go through Playmobil figures it's kind of interesting to see how variety presents itself. Gender representation isn't perfect; it's pretty good - we're seeing lady fencers, bee keepers, bank robbers, doctors, and even vampires - but no other ghosts or monsters, and lady adventurers of any kind are in short supply. There have been a few senior citizen figures, but you'll notice most/all white hair/bald figures are also white folks. Really all one can say is "hey, it's a start." I hope to see more variety and more representation in these blind bags, LEGO is also doing a pretty good job here. Maybe next we can get, like, a lady Buzz Aldrin or something.
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